Hedgehog biscuits

Hedgehog biscuits

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Time: 30 minutes + 12 minutes baking + decorating

Serves: 16 biscuits

We had a bit of a hedgehog themed day last week where we met a hedgehog, and made some hedgehog art at Gorgie City Farm. Inspired by that I thought we would try some hedgehog themed baking. We’ve not made biscuits for a while, so I got out our trusty biscuit recipe and got Hannah to give me a hand.

There are probably better recipes for this, as there is a lot of butter in this one which makes it a bit soft, but it’s an easy one to do and I know that they’ll taste nice. If hedgehogs aren’t your thing you can use this recipe as a base for something else that tickles your fancy.

Method

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl

Weigh out the butter (or just use a whole stick). To make it easier to mix, either leave it out of the fridge for a while before you start or pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds or so.

Get your toddler to weigh the sugar and then add it to the bowl.

..

Mix together with a wooden spoon.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract

I did both these parts myself with a little help from Hannah as she doesn’t quite have the dexterity to do it all on her own yet. Your toddler can help to mix it all in though.

Sift in the flour

Weigh the flour in a separate bowl then sift it into your mixture. It can get a little messy, but Hannah really enjoyed this part! Once it’s all in give it another mix until it’s well combined.

Form the biscuits

Use your hands to finish mixing and press the dough together into a ball. To make the hedgehogs, break off little bits and roll them in your hands to form balls, then shape the snout/nose.

Don’t worry too much about making them perfect, ours spread in the oven so I ended up doing it again a little after they had been baked. Put them on their baking tray with a little space between each one. If you put your baking trays in the fridge for 10 minutes it should stop your biscuits spreading as much.

Bake in the oven

Put your baking tray in the oven for 10-12 minutes until they are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and put them on a wire rack to cool (you might want to reshape the noses a little before they cool).

Decorate your hedgehog biscuits

Your toddler can help you break up the chocolate into a microwavable bowl then zap them for 30 seconds+ until it’s melted.

Either pour the chocolate over each biscuit, dip them in your bowl or use a spoon to spread the chocolate on. We did a mixture of all 3. Sprinkle over your chocolate sprinkles or nuts to form the hedgehog spines.

Use something pointy like a chopstick or cocktail stick to dip in the chocolate and form the eyes and nose.